Lily Madigan has published an article.

''100 years on since the first women got the vote, there are still inequalities in the feminist movement. Why are some feminists still failing transwomen?

The evidence is there if you look for it – Transphobic leaflets being given out in the safe zone at Labour annual conference; prominent party feminists suggesting violence against transwomen; someone being kicked out of a Labour Women’s Network party for harassing a teenage trans woman; fundraisers being started to try and legally challenge Labours trans-inclusive policies; transwomen being excluded from Labour run women’s events by a women’s officer. The list goes on.

Most state their actions aren’t transphobic at all, but they are merely seeking the protection of women’s spaces. Some go further, suggesting transwomen are men’s right activists working purposely to erode women’s hard won protects. They commonly misgender people like me as a means to belittle our experiences and score social media points. And so I think its fair we question how much authority they have as cis-women to decide whether they are being transphobic.''

To a certain extent, I hope they grow up one day and look back at this with serious embarrassment - about how small their life experience is, that they appear to have no empathy or understanding about what it even means to be a woman in society or more broadly across the world

You when you’re in year 9 and your English teacher splits the class in two and gives you a debate topic? That’s what this reads like. It’s like Lily was handed a topic last week due in today and they only started it last night so googled “transphobia” and fired a load of key phrases into word before going back on snap chat to see what Georgia said about that girl from then othe school in town who was texting her boyfriend.

Oh and the whole "they debate our right to exist?" No! They debate the validity of your views and your right to inflict your views on everyone else. I don't hold any religious beliefs thus I don't believe Jews are "the chosen people" or that Christians will go to heaven. That doesn't mean I don't believe Jews or Christians exist... They don't vanish in a puff of smoke because I don't agree with them on something 🙄

prominent party feminists suggesting violence against transwomenThis is really interesting. I heard the radio interview mentioned a couple of postS ago where LM wouldn't debate with LB. The reason given was that LB had threatened violence. LB said the violence comment was about how she would use violence in self defence and was deliberately and disingenuously taken out of context by LM and presented as a threat to all trans women.

The survey commentary implies prejudice = women being uncomfortable to have transwomen in female toilets. So it’s not a nuanced analysis, nor were the BSA survey questions. They asked women:

’Please think about a transgender woman-that is a man who has gone through all or part of a process to become a woman. How comfortable or uncomfortable would you be for a transgender woman to use female public toilets?’ just a few assumptions in that question.

The survey also didn’t ask about what self identification as a legal right would make very easy in terms of men accessing women’s private spaces.

I can imagine a greater proportion of ‘prejudice’ would come out if women had been asked how comfortable they were with the prospect of womens’ public or school toilets/changing rooms/prison cells/wherever being open to eg ’men who identified as women with no other process involved.’